One in eight young people without degrees work in graduate jobs

Analysis of the jobs and earnings of young non-graduates working in the UK.

18 September 2018

One in eight young people without degree-level qualifications are working in graduate jobs, according to analysis by the Office for National Statistics.

In 2017, 12% of non-graduates (327,303) aged 22 to 29 were working in a graduate job – defined as a role where the tasks typically require knowledge and skills gained through higher education. This compares with 54% of graduates (1,273,336) in the same age group who had a graduate job.

Sales, HR, and retail and wholesale management most common graduate jobs for non-graduates

Some types of graduate jobs were especially common for those without degrees. These include sales, HR and retail and wholesale management.

Top graduate jobs for non-graduates aged 22 to 29, 2017

Occupation

Median full-time salary

Managers and directors in retail and wholesale

£22,995

Human resources and industrial relations officers

£26,319

Sales accounts and business development managers

£33,119

Business sales executives

£24,481

Managers and directors in storage and warehousing

£22,693

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NOTE: Salaries are median, full-time and do not include the self-employed. Source: Annual Population Survey, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings

In these types of job, it may be easier for non-graduates to “work their way up” to senior positions without formal qualifications, unlike in more regulated professions like medicine, law and teaching. In addition, apprenticeships are more established in retail and sales, enabling school leavers to obtain on-the-job training.

Fewer non-graduates in work

Overall, graduates and non-graduates face different experiences in the jobs market. People aged 22 to 29 without a degree have a lower employment rate (78%) than graduates (90%). Although unemployment rates, those actively looking for a job, are slightly higher for non-graduates at 6.8% compared with 4.6% for graduates.

The biggest difference between the two groups is in the numbers who are neither employed nor unemployed. These are people described as “economically inactive”1 who are not available for or looking for work. 17% of non-graduates aged 22 to 29 were inactive, compared to only 6% of graduates.

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Most of these non-graduates said they were not working because they were long-term sick, or looking after the family or home. There may be more non-graduates who are long-term sick because higher levels of education are associated with better health and well-being. There may also be more non-graduates looking after the family or home because women with lower educational attainment tend to have children younger, at an average age of 28.5 compared with 32.9 for graduates.

Non-graduates work in lower-skilled, lower-paid jobs

People without degree-level qualifications mainly work in lower-skilled and lower-paid jobs. 61% of non-graduates aged 22 to 29 work in four job types:

Occupations of non-graduates aged 22 to 29, UK, 2017

Occupations of graduates aged 22 to 29, UK, 2017

There’s a big pay gap between mainly-graduate and mainly-non-graduate jobs: young people in “professional” roles earn almost two-thirds more (63%) than their peers in “elementary” roles, and this pay gap has remained the same since 2008.

The highest-paid non-graduate roles are in skilled trades – these may earn more because their qualifications match the industry they work in and they have greater access to training on the job. Young people working in skilled trades have seen the greatest pay increase at 11%.

There were 14 million graduates in the UK in July to September 2017, following a steady increase over the past decade. This overview looks at employment, skill level of jobs, industry, pay, unemployment and comparison of male and female graduates.

Important measures of employee earnings, using data from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE). Figures are presented mainly for full-time employees, although some detail for part-time workers is also included.